The 33-year-old's England career was brought to an end last Tuesday, when he was released from his central contract by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

There has been fevered debate about the decision, prompting the ECB to issue a statement on Sunday explaining that Pietersen was axed because everyone in the team needed to be able to "trust each other".

"The issue is one of the role of the captain and the senior players," Atherton wrote in the Times.

"The first of whom ought to be the most important man in the dressing room and and the others should help to set standards on and off the field.

"Whether Pietersen's relationship with all of them was sour has been disputed, but there remains little doubt that he was fundamentally friendless in a group comprising James Anderson, Stuart Broad, Matt Prior, Graeme Swann and Alastair Cook.

"Pietersen's supporters would refer to the fake Twitter account in the summer of 2012 as an example of what might be called playground bullying, and that this helped to push him farther to the outside.

"Cliques are often part of sporting dressing rooms because, inevitably, some players get on better with each other socially than with others.

"It is inevitable, perhaps, but cliques can be just as damaging, say, as a prima donna player who charts his own path.

"That kind of behaviour from the senior players suggests weakness, so just how strong were the captain and the leadership group as the tour descended into the kind of infighting that has been reported?"